On 02-Jun-98 Ken Hornstein spoke unto us all:
# >I suppose even i386 suffers from this at some point as well though..  How do
# >you install without DOS to download the sets?
# 
# The i386 install floppy has all of the networking drivers you need; what
# I do is boot the install floppy (which I create using dd under NetBSD :-) ),
# and ftp the sets from another machine (one of the options provided by
# the install program).
# 

Thats kind of a "well the fox made the egg" solution.  Imagine bob buys a brand
new machine.  His first, builds it from parts, and tries to install.  It is,
like I said, somewhat obscure.  I really think for this reason we should
provide rz/kermit bins on ftp.netbsd.org, or a pppd kernel (a bit far fetched).
It doesn't solve all of the problems, but it does make a complete raw install
possible.  The CD is the best solution, assuming you have a drive.  Currently,
without the CD, we have a dependency on either a network, a stack of floppies
(ugh) or a pre-existing OS.  

I am truly grateful that we are shipping CD's soon.. I intend to buy one if
nothing else, to help out netbsd.  It will also make a great "loan out".

---
Tim Rightnour    -  root@garbled.net
http://www.zynetwc.com/~garbled/garbled.html